Wake Up, Think Fast, We are Changing
by IloveHarryPotter17
Summary: Latest one-shot: Katherine knows just how to handle a scandal: with revenge.
1. Anchor

**A/N**: This is my collection of TVD drabbles I'm writing this summer. Central character as well as pairings will change to fit the prompt.

If you've got a prompt, feel free to send it my way (like a line from a song, an object, if it's more specific I will try my best)

Title adopted by a line in "Season" by The Academy Is...

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**Prompt**: Anchor

**Characters/Pairing**: Caroline, Stefan

**Rating**: PG

**Summary**: They have always been each other's anchor

**Timeline**: Set in the future

**Disclaimer**: The Vampire Diaries isn't mine

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"I'm going to get us some drinks," he says, leaning down to place his mouth next to her ear.

Her hands unclasp from their place around his neck and she moves backward slightly, allowing him slightly more space to move.

Stefan turns and heads for the bar, making his way through the sweaty, pulsing crowd of bodings dancing impossibly close together.

He catches the bartender's attention, and he immediately makes his way towards him, no doubt due to the large sum he and Caroline had spent here within the past three nights.

"Two shark bites," Stefan orders and the dark-haired bartender nods in acknowledgement before he shuffles down the bar to retrieve the rum for the drinks.

Stefan pivots so he can see the dance floor, his back leaning against the bar. The DJ is playing one of Caroline's self proclaimed "songs," and he searches the floor for her, eager to see her smiling face and body swaying to the beat of the newest house song.

He can't seem to find her in the crowd of writhing bodies on the dance floor, and he quickly begins to scan the outer walls of the club.

Then he spots her: she's leading a blonde-haired guy by the hand to the exit that leads to the back alley. She's looking around and when he catches her eye, Caroline tilts her head towards the direction of the door and smiles.

If she was thirsty she should've told him before he went and ordered them real drinks. He turns back to the bar just in time for the bartender to place his drinks in front of him. Stefan hands him a twenty and the bartender walks off towards the register. Stefan grabs one of the glasses in front of him and downs it in one shot. He takes the other one in his hand and as he's leaving his spot at the bar, he hands it to a girl with too much eye make-up on that's just walked up to order a drink.

The crowds are thinner at the edges of the club, save for the couples that are pressed up against the neon-splattered walls making out, but Stefan easily sidesteps them as he finds the door that Caroline left through.

He opens the door and walks through to the dimly lit alley but he can see Caroline and her snack just fine. She has him pinned between herself and the brick wall of the club's exterior. The door closes behind him and Caroline's face turns towards him.

"Just in time," she grins as he fangs descend and her veins darken around her eyes.

There's a whimper from the boy, and then Caroline's mouth is on his neck, sucking his blood greedily.

Stefan can smell the warm blood that's trickling down the boy's neck, and he takes a deep breath. It's Caroline's turn, not his.

He pretends to check out the alleyway's entrance over his shoulder for trespassers but it's just so he can keep himself in check. No one has ever bothered them in this alley.

After a minute he forces himself to focus on the boy's heartbeat. It's growing slower, fainter and he knows it's time for her to stop.

He takes two steps towards Caroline and her meal and she tenses, but does not stop drinking. His own thirst is intensifying and his fingers involuntarily flex, getting ready to shove Caroline off to drain the boy himself.

"Caroline," he warns.

She pauses for a second at the sound of his voice but does not stop.

Stefan takes a calming breath, then is at Caroline's side instantly. "Caroline," he repeats, bending down to get closer to her ear, as he pulls her away from her meal with one hand.

Caroline takes a step backwards from the force. She wasn't prepared to be torn away from her meal, but she quickly regains control of herself as her fangs disappear and she props the slumping body up with one hand. She turns so she's half facing Stefan, who's taken a step backwards. "I'm so sorry. I should've stopped the first time you said-"

"No it's okay. You did better than last time."

Caroline nods, then a small smile escapes her lips, "You didn't have to throw me across the alley tonight."

Stefan can't help but smile back at her, "No. And tomorrow you'll stop all by yourself. You just have to listen to their heartbeat, okay?"

"Okay," Caroline repeats. She looks back towards the boy whose color is almost gone. "Oops," she says and bites into her writs. A steady stream of blood appears from the wound and she holds it above the boy's face so a few drops of her blood drip into his mouth. Almost immediately his color returns and his eyes open. He begins to move but Caroline easily restrains him. She captures his eyes and tells him, "You were in a fight with a guy in the alley. He had a knife but you got it away from him and used it. That's why there's blood. You won. Now go back inside." Caroline releases him from her grip.

His pupils dilate with the compulsion. "There was a fight, a knife. I won," he responds monotonously before turning and heading for the front of the building.

Caroline turns toward Stefan expectantly.

"Well at least he won the fight," Stefan says with an approving nod. Caroline just laughs as she links his arm through his as they walk off into the night.

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Reviews & prompts are always appreciated.


	2. Goggles

A/N: This is my collection of TVD drabbles I'm writing this summer. Central character as well as pairings will change to fit the prompt.

If you've got a prompt, feel free to send it my way (like a line from a song, an object, if it's more specific I will try my best)

Title adopted by a line in "Season" by The Academy Is...

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Prompt: Goggles

Characters/Pairing: Caroline, Klaus; Klaus/Caroline

Rating: PG

Summary: Caroline hates her newest required acessory for chemistry lab.

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I look ridiculous, Caroline thinks as she gives herself a once-over in the mirror.

It's not her outfit, which is adorable, but the lab goggles that are currently sitting on her face.

And they're rather uncomfortable too: the plastic part covering her eyes is digging into the bridge of her nose and above her forehead. The black elastic band that holds them on her face is creating a weird bump in her hair, and her bangs won't lie flat on her forehead beacause of the awful goggles and so they're awkwardly jutting out over them. She looks terrible.

She moves to her desk to flip through the closest notebook to see how well she can see out of them, but she notices him leaning against the doorway of her dormroom.

"Adorable, love," he says with a grin, his arms folded across his chest.

"Shut up," she retorts as she quickly pulls off the goggles and tosses then onto her desk. "They're ugly. I hate chemistry. I don't see why I have to take a science anyways," she rants as she takes a couple of steps to her bed and sits down on it.

"You could always just compel your way," Klaus reminds her as he sits down next to her on the bed.

Caroline rolls her eyes. He suggests it every other week and she knows he's not that serious about it. "It would mean I have Tuesdays free from 1-4 pm..."

Klaus starts to grin as his hand slides up her thigh.

"But I think I'll just stick with it anyways," she says as she pushes herself up off the bed. "I'll be sure to make it up to you though," Caroline promises with a raise of her eyebrows.

"You can start now," Klaus replies as he grabs her and pulls her back onto the bed, a squeal of delight escaping through Caroline's lips.

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Reviews & prompts are always appreciated


	3. I'm Here

**A/N**: This is my collection of TVD drabbles I'm writing. Central character as well as pairings will change to fit the prompt.

If you've got a prompt, feel free to send it my way (like a line from a song, an object, if it's more specific I will try my best)

Title adopted by a line in "Season" by The Academy Is...

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**Prompt**: I'm Here

**Characters/Pairing**: Caroline, Klaus; Klaus/Caroline

**Rating**: PG

**Summary**: It's getting harder and harder to breathe, but he's coming.

**Timeline**: Set in the future, Klaus & Caroline are together

**Disclaimer**: The Vampire Diaries isn't mine

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It's getting harder and harder to breathe. Not that she needs to, but she tries to and finds it's getting really hard to draw the damp air down through her lungs.

Her vision is blurry and so she closes her eyes. She doesn't need to see to know that her guard is still positioned at the front of the room, armed with enough wooden bullets and vervain darts to keep her in her less-than-conscious state for weeks should he decide to use his arsenal on her.

Her only hope, her only glimmer of survival is Klaus.

She can hear the door open and the heavy footsteps of another man, and she can only imagine what's coming next.

But he's coming for her.

_He has to._

* * *

_I'm coming Caroline._

It's the only thought in his head as he runs to the old abandoned house just at the edge of the Sultzfelder Forrest.

There's only 100 yards between him and the house before Caroline's captors start shooting vervain-soaked wooden bullets at him. Other than stinging like a bitch, they don't make much of an impact, and he certainly doesn't let them slow him down.

Before they know what's happening, Klaus has ripped out their hearts effortlessly, dropping their useless organs and bodies onto the ground. He's almost disappointed that it wasn't harder, but he has more pressing matters to attend to.

As he steps inside the house, his vampiric senses are on overload, looking for the smallest clue as to where Caroline is. He's still for a moment, and he can hear everything inside the house: the footsteps of the vampires walking down the hallway on the floor above him, the slam of a door somewhere in front of him, and, the sound that catches his attention is the sound of chains. Of course it's coming from the floor below.

Klaus opens the doors immediately surrounding him the foyer only to be led to a closet and to what used to be the dining room. He runs his hand through his hair and stills for a moment to concentrate on the sounds, what had to be the chains they were keeping Caroline in.

He follows the faint sounds of the chains rattling into the dusty kitchen where he finds a door. He opens it slowly, and as he does, the smell of blood and vervain overwhelmed him. His temper is flaring, knowing how much pain Caroline has to be in for the smell to be this bad.

In an instant he flashes down to the bottom of the steps only to be met with a vervain grenade that temporarily blinds him and he can feel his body being riddled with vervain-soaked wooden bullets. Idiots. The small attack only makes him furious as he lets out a growl and he knows his eyes are flashing yellow in warning.

In half a second the man who had launched the vervain grenade is dead, his heart in Klaus' fist.

Klaus turns to face their leader, as the man wavers, but manages not to take a step back as Klaus snarls, "What have you to say?"

"You killed my brother! He works at the hotel-and you-you vampires-" he spits, the hatred obvious in his voice, "-drained him. I'm not dumb . I can tell a vampire attack from a wolf attack."

"Oh I have to disagree," Klaus smirks as he stalks closer to the man who is useless trying to conceal a stake in his hand, "you took my Caroline, which is the worst way to get my attention, and you clearly haven't done your research, I am an Original Vampire and the first hybrid, I cannot be killed by your pathetic wooden stakes," Klaus informs him as he easily snatches it from the man's fingers. "You are quite moronic," Klaus replies and shoves the stake into his stomach.

Klaus turns to the cage that holds Caroline as the man's body drops to the floor behind him. "_Caroline_," he breathes.

"Klaus?" she manages to utter, her eyes flutter half-open.

At her voice he tears open the cage the vervain burning his hands but he ignores the sensation because all he can focus on is Caroline. As soon as he's inside, he's pulling the chains off of her, hissing when his hands touch them. They're drenched in vervain. He flashes back out to the body of the first man and rips off his shirt and then flashes back to Caroline. He places the material around the chain then breaks them apart, freeing Caroline who slumps forward.

Klaus gathers her into his arms, pushing her hair back. "I'm here Caroline, I'm here."

"K-Klaus…I'm so…tired…"

"I know sweetheart," he says as he presses a kiss to her forehead.

She needs blood now. He's not sure how she isn't dead-well shriveled and grey-yet. She never drinks enough blood as she should and these idiots had her for a few days, longer than she should have been able to survive on her regimen. He tears at his wrist and offers it to her. She shakes her head slightly, but Klaus only brings his wrist closer to her mouth, "Drink." After a moment Caroline obeys and Klaus can feel his blood leaving him as she drinks. As she does, the burns and cuts all over her body start to knit themselves closed.

"Let's go home, love," Klaus whispers and carries her out of the house in his arms, making a promise to himself to burn it to the ground.

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**A/N**: I probably shouldn't have tried my hand at Klaus-rescues-Caroline, but I did. Disaster, but at least it's done and I'm writing.


	4. Funeral

**Prompt**: Funeral

**Characters/Pairing**: Caroline, Bonnie, Klaus; implied Klaus/Caroline

**Rating**: G

**Summary**: Caroline buys a bouquet of yellow roses for Bonnie's grave, though it may not be the most fitting color

**Timeline**: Set in the future

**Disclaimer**: The Vampire Diaries isn't mine

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She buys a bouquet of yellow roses.

They're certainly not the most fitting color of roses to buy for her friend but she likes to remember her, remember their friendship as it was when they were young: without the half-truths, crumbling trust, and burning lines of betrayal Bonnie thought she had crossed.

There was a time when Caroline considered Bonnie to be her best friend. Somewhere from second to fifth grade when she liked Bonnie just a little bit more and thought Bonnie felt the same about her. She was sorely proven wrong when, in sixth grade, there was a school field trip to the Almshouse Farm to teach them about their history and Bonnie had to choose a seat on the bus between Caroline and Elena. Bonnie had quickly sat down next to Elena without a second of hesitation and Caroline was forced to sit next to Mrs. Lawless. Caroline had decided at that moment she loved Bonnie, but never more than she loved Elena.

She places the flowers on the ground next to a few other bouquets and potted plants that have recently been placed there. Two days ago to be exact.

Two days and four years ago Bonnie died.

The flowers are from her two daughters and their sons and daughters. Caroline thinks her daughters are Sheila and Sadie, but she doesn't know the names of Bonnie's grandchildren. She's never been introduced to any of them, only hearing bits of information through Stefan who she sometimes hears from if they happen to remember they used to know one another.

She never formally attended Bonnie's funeral.

On the day they held Bonnie's service, she stood half a mile in the woods, able to see clearly the grief written all over the bodies of Bonnie's descendants and friends. Elena, Damon, and Stefan sat in the last row of chairs, wigs and black coat collars turned up high for disguise but she dared not breathe a word, lest they know she was there watching. She's not sure how they would all react seeing each other in person, especially there.

Tears are blurring her vision and he pulls at the wrist that's hanging motionless at her side.

She turns away from Bonnie's headstone and takes the two steps that separate her from Klaus' chest. As she collides with him, he wraps his arms around her. They shouldn't be here. He's the reason that Bonnie had severed ties with her in the end. It was the last straw for their already tumultous friendship. "Can we go?" Caroline mumbles. She needs to get them away from there as fast as possible. It's overwhelming and wrong and she just feels the urge to _go_.

"Of course love," Klaus replies and leads her out of the cemetery.

Caroline steals one last look at Bonnie's grave as Klaus leads her out. Because she knows it will be her last.


	5. Katherine

**Characters/Pairing**: Katherine Pierce

**Rating**: PG

**Summary**: Katherine knows just how to handle a scandal: with revenge.

**Timeline**: Set before season 1.

**Disclaimer**: _The Vamp__ire Diaries_ isn't mine

**A/N**: I am working on _Alexithymia_. My beta has the latest chapter so it should be up soon. Promise!

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"Katherine," Sally bowed slightly, "Mister Parks requests an audience with you."

She couldn't help but smile. "Show him in, Sally. I shall be down shortly."

Katherine runs her fingers through her curls and powders her nose, anything to waste a few minutes. When she has decided that he's waited long enough she makes her way down the grand staircase into the receiving room where he is sitting on the edge of his seat waiting for her. As he should be.

"Hello Mister Parks," Katherine greets him as she sweeps into the room. He immediately springs from his seat and grabs for her hand, placing a kiss upon the back of it.

"Miss Katherine," he breathes against her hand.

She moves to take a seat, but he does not imitate her actions and Katherine stops.

She eyes him critically, but he refuses to meet her gaze. Instead, he focuses on the empty fireplace as if there was an actual fire to entertain him.

"How are you Edmund?" she asks him.

He shakes his head, "Katherine, I know not how to tell you…"

"It is best to speak plainly, Edmund," Katherine instructs, growing impatient.

He takes a deep breath before looking up at her, "I cannot see you anymore. I am to marry Miss Jane Westbrook. It would be improper for us to spend our afternoons together as we so often do…"

Katherine holds up a hand. "I understand completely Edmund," her voice remains steady though she is raging just beneath the surface. "I would never want to cause any problems for you. I hope you are very happy with Miss Westbrook."

"Thank you Katherine," he moves forward towards her but she immediately takes a step backwards. "Oh. Right…"

"I hope you have a fine afternoon Edmund. I believe you can find your way out," Katherine says as she walks past him, leaving him fumbling for his hat and coat alone.

.

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_"He left her for Miss Westbrook. Her family is very well connected you know…"_

_"Oh that is Katherine Pierce, she was seeing Mr. Rivers. Maybe if she had a family…"_

_"He has done much better than sneaking around with that girl. Everyone knew about it. His father finally talked some sense into him…"_

_._

.

She _hates_ them. All of them. She can hear their so-called whispers even without her vampiric hearing.

She is good enough for Edmund. She should have compelled them all when she got into town. How silly of her for thinking that this town would be any different.

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She is at Mrs. and Mr. Lawrence's party, in a little side room off of the main ballroom. She hears Mrs. Rivers' distinctive voice.

"Oh and she had no shame! She often would come without a chaperone and would convince Edmund to sneak off with her before Charles could follow them!"

"Oh," a small voice answers, who Katherine guesses to be Miss Jane Westbrook.

The sounds of their voices are coming closer, and she stays where she is, knowing that they will run into her any second.

"She did not even have a proper upbringing. I have heard that her parents died-" and Mrs. Rivers stops when she turns the corner to find Katherine in her way.

"Oh, Katherine…" the elder lady falters.

Katherine simply flashes her a deadly smile, "That is correct Mrs. Rivers. Both of my parents died of the fever when I was very young. My grandparents raised me until they both passed away in a carriage accident two years ago. I apologize if my manners are not up to your standards but you must understand that I simply have not had anyone to properly guide me into society. I am afraid I am very alone and I am simply grateful that I have a faithful servant and enough money to live comfortably or else I cannot imagine where I would be right now."

Mrs. Rivers tries to smooth things over, "Miss Katherine, I am very grateful that you were left with the means to live as you do and I am terribly sorry to hear about your parents and grandparents-"

"-Thank you Mrs. Rivers," Katherine cuts her off and brushes past her, resisting very hard the urge to rip her throat out right there.

Instead, as she's twirled around the ballroom by a Mr. Daniel Hooper, she finalizes her plans for the Rivers family.

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The clock finally strikes one am and Katherine slips out of her bed and puts on her simplest dress and cloak. She pulls on her leather boots and cannot help but glance at herself in the mirror. She is ready.

She steals down the back stairwell and out the door without a sound. As if Sally would ever ask her questions or try to stop her.

She makes her way to the Rivers' house in the dark of the night and easily lets herself in. She has done it so many times, it has become second nature.

In the kitchen she finds what she is looking for: two candles and a matchbook.

She makes her way up the stairwell to the second floor. In the hallway, she lights the two candles. They illuminate the ornate hallway surrounding her.

She opens Mr. and Mrs. Rivers' room and quickly throws it in then dashes to Edmund's room and throws the second candle onto his floor as well.

As soon as the candle hits the floor, the flame spreads across the hardwood floors and catches onto their four-poster beds. She only watches until this point, to be sure the fire has caught, then she sprints outside into their yard where she can see the flames through Edmund's bedroom window.

She watches as the flames spread through the rest of the house and she can hear the cries of their servants, trapped on the third floor.

Soon enough she can feel the heat even from her spot in the yard. She bends down and plucks a rose from Mrs. River's rose bush and places it behind her ear.

She strolls back to her house in the shadows, ignoring the growing noises that mean that people have discovered the fire and start planning her move to the next town. Edmund did mention once that the south was quite lovely this time of year…


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